Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Last summer, my poor, swimming-daily children thought they were being deprived because they only had noodles and kick-boards (Oh, the injustice of only having 2 pieces of swim gear!!)--and that they NEEDED goggles. (Please note the sarcasm).

I postponed that desire for the whole summer last year (I want them to learn how to swim without wearing anything extra--no goggles, no floaties, no nose plugs, etc.) but I knew I couldn't hold them off for one more complete summer.

Being the hard-nosed mom that I am, I told them that if they wanted goggles, they had to earn them by jumping into the deep-end and swimming across all by themselves. T-Man was doing this last year, no problem, so after quickly warming back up to the water after 9 months off, he earned his goggles on Swimming Lesson Day 2.

Front crawl

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Back Float

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Goggles Earned.

Fearless was another story. Last year, he had a scary experience that involved him slipping into the deep end, some quick swimming by my SweatSister (who is also the best swim teacher on the planet), and a blessed escape from a watery end.

So this year, he was pretty leery of that deep water. Not that I blame him.﻿

We spent some time in the shallow water where he was a little fish--swimming, flipping, jumping in without hesitation.

But still, no goggles.﻿

Until we reached Swimming Lesson Day 7. My SweatSister had to rearrange the lessons a bit, and Fearless ended up having private lessons. I guess that one-on-one time was just what he needed, because on that day, my little man made the jump, the swim, and earned the goggles.

You can't see his face really well here, but right before he jumped, he had that Eye-of-the-Tiger-conquer-or-bust look going on.

Almost there!!

Made it!!

He's pretty proud of those goggles, as he should be. I must admit, ﻿at the beginning of the summer, I was worried he might not make it...but I shouldn't have doubted.

The kid really is fearless...or at least he conquers all his fears. Which is probably better after all.

And Miss B?

This girl was made for the water.

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As soon as we get to the pool, she heads down the steps and makes herself comfortable. She will jump in, standing up, from the side while only holding onto one of my hands, and she can swim, underwater, for about 4 feet--no goggles, no floaties, no kickboards, no noodles--just my little two-year-old Miss B.

Sorry, no pictures of her swimming because it's kind of hard to take pictures AND try to keep her from doing something drastic. Because this chick has no issues with the deep end and is known to run like mad mosey on down there, climb down the ladder, and hang out with the big kids if I turn my head for ﻿a second. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm writing a post about Miss B earning the goggles next summer.

About Me

I'm a Midwestern girl who's lived in Missouri, Utah, Missouri again, Nebraska, Mississippi and Iowa. This is my story of life with my farmer-turned-professor husband, two exceptional little boys, and one extraordinary little girl who happens to have Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. The stories you are about to read are all real; I couldn't make it up if I tried.